A Soldier’s Poem
by angelo di desiderio
Summary: The roots of a rivalry and a romance. Follows some game events but involves a completely different storyline. "You go through life dreaming of who you’ll be when you’re older...I knew who I was going to be."


**A Soldier's Poem**

By : angelo di desiderio

**Disclaimer**: All characters & item/place/monster(s) belong to Square-Enix and respectful owners.

**Author's Note**: This was written more like a novel, and I haven't written since I was 15 so my writing style is more mature

and quite different. There isn't much dialogue in this first chapter, but there were be in the next chapter.

Please review whether you like it or not. This doesn't follow the storyline written for the game, although you'll find some

scenes and characters that echo those found in the game. Squall and Seifer, you will find, are completely different characters

than what you're use to; at least in the beginning. As the story plays out you'll see them change back to the roles you are all

so familiar with. Please read with an open mind, and enjoy!

* * *

_Act I, Scene I_

_Fade in…_

* * *

"You go through life dreaming of who you'll be when you're older. You imagine what your job will be, if you'll have kids or

pets, where you'll live, what you'll look like. Somehow it gets all mapped out in your brain, it starts out as a puzzle piece that

you slowly put together as time goes by. Every once and awhile though, there's a piece that doesn't fit, a piece that was

never meant to be there. That's when everything changes, and there's no stopping what may come at you next. Looking

back at the very beginning, before any of these series of events happened, I had no clue what was in store for me, I was

just…a kid, but I thought I had it all figured out. I knew who I was going to be."

* * *

_ …__Fade out_

* * *

The halls of Balamb were vibrantly decorated, and various ribbons dawned the ceiling in school colors of yellow and light

blue. The students dressed in school uniform were scuffling along to their destination points. Bells were ringing, a ceremony

was about to undertake. The younger students were filled with excited, bouncing up and down with hysteria. There was one

however who seemed to not be fazed by all the excitement. With boots clanking on the newly polished tile floor, Squall

entered the ballroom. His facial expression would not change, even when being surrounded by young attractive girls his own

age. He had boyish good looks and had a creamy complexion. There was not one flaw upon his face except for one large scar

in the middle of his forehead that extended from brow to brow. It was pretty deep but slightly faded; it had been there for

some time. His dark brown messy hair almost covered his face but could not hide his deep ocean blue eyes. The girls would

giggle as he walked by, but he wouldn't even flinch at the sight. He was here for one reason, and his reason soon

approached the podium.

"Good afternoon Balamb students and fellow SeeDs. I can see the excitement in all of your youthful faces! I too, am looking

forward to tonight; I hope everyone will be attending the ceremony and be appropriately dressed of course. Now let us take

a moment to congratulate this years valedictorian, Mr. Seifer Almasy!"

There was loud applause and whistling as the handsome and reserved man took to the podium. His blonde hair was

slicked back with one stray hair sticking slightly out; even so he still looked proper. He was much taller than the older man

that spoke previously.

"Thank you Cid! I am truly honored to receive this year's prestigious title of Valedictorian. I can sincerely say that through

hard work, perseverance, and dedication you can make all of your dreams come true! I won't bore you all with a long and

pointless speech so I'll just simply say, congratulations to all the graduating SeeDs! Thanks!" Seifer stepped down from the

podium and the applause broke out loudly once again. There was finally a change in expression on the young Squall's face.

It was that of disgust and disapproval.

After the ceremony was over, Squall quickly headed to the training center. It was humid and tropical; the air was also very

heavy. He had his gun blade in hand; it was dripping from the wet air. His clothes were sticking to his fit body, it was slightly

uncomfortable but he didn't seem to show it, he just kept a stern face. He approached a grat who was looking quite hungry

for human flesh. It lunged at him with its long vine like arms and expelled a fumy gas in hopes to put him to sleep. Squall had

entered the battle fully prepared, quickly taking action and downing a remedy. Deflecting the sleeping gas he then ran at the

grat, full swing with gun blade in hand. With one quick and forceful slash he killed the level 2 grat landing with one leg

lunged backward and his occupied hands forward. He waited for the corpse to fall to the ground before changing his position

back upright. After a slight delay the body soon did and he moved on to the next arena.

The training center was set up into levels, one area was for beginners and one was for more advanced students. You had

to pass through the beginners' area, usually levels 2-10 to get to the more advanced levels such as 12-20. There was only

one level 20 creature and he was only let out on certain days due to his danger factor. This creature was the cunning

T-Rexaur. Squall had yet to fight him due to the rarity of running into one. Not many people could take one down alone so he

was kept frequently on lock down. If he were let out usually someone got to him before Squall could and if the T-Rexuar was

successfully killed it would be sometime before they received a replacement. Most T-Rexuars in the wild are very vicious and

aggressive, Balamb would only take the tamest and least aggressive T-Rexuar they could find for legal purposes.

The training center was designed for younger students whose SeeD training had not yet begun, so the level of difficulty

was really quite easy for Squall. The only reason why he frequented it was because it was hardly ever occupied; not many

students were very serious about their training, and Squall greatly enjoyed privacy.

He quickly advanced into the higher-level areas, taking no time to rest or drink up a potion or two. Everyday he had

entered the training center in hopes he would find a T-Rexaur by himself and successfully kill it to make the school record.

There were only two people who had killed one without the help of other comrades. Seifer was one of them. Perhaps if Seifer

wasn't one of them then he wouldn't obsess over it so much, but that was very debatable.

As Squall let the sweat fall from his furrowed brow he finally sat on a nearby log in frustration. '_I'm never going to find this_

_ damn bastard!'_ Through his frustration he let out a loud growl and in doing so heard a high-pitched scream occur at the same

moment he made a sound. Taking quick action he ran towards the scream and found what he had been searching for all

along.

There was the massive T-Rexaur in all its ferocious glory! Only this creature wasn't alone like Squall had hoped for; a small

petite girl with black hair accompanied the T-Rexaur. She was wearing a white form fitting skirt with a green shall and light

blue collard top. She was screaming and cowering on the ground, lifting her arm to shield her face out of desperation. Squall

took action and slashed at the large monster, following through flawlessly. He stood in front of her so the T-Rexaur's

attention would be focused solely on him. "DON'T MOVE OKAY?!" The petite girl frighteningly replied, "Ok!" Slash after slash,

Squall desperately tried to take down the monster but to no avail. He had forgotten to take a potion before entering battle

and was growing tired. He was running on pure anger. The T-Rexaur was growing more furious and was starting to turn to a

bright red; he had gone berserk.

His large tail tripped Squall catching the young cadet off guard. Squall fell to the floor on his back. The T-Rexaur once again

slashed is tail, knocking the gun blade out of Squall's hand. This was not how Squall had pictured the battle. Just when he

thought it was over a blurry figure slashed through the giant creature.

Squall recognized who it was after the figure had landed and frowned greatly in annoyance. It was Seifer, and much to

Squall's further annoyance and dismay, the T-Rexaur dropped to the ground, dead. Squall quickly got up and grabbed his

gun blade-heading straight for Seifer fueled by hatred. He sluggishly raised his blade above his head and struck at Seifer out

of anguish.

"What the hell, Squall?!", Seifer quickly reacted and deflected the clumsy attack with his own blade. Gun blade met gun

blade and a twang was all that could be heard of the steel colliding. Squall had attempted to strike again but was too slow

for Seifer and left him an opportunity to cast a Fire on Squall, sending him to the ground by reflex.

Squall allowed the smoke and ash to recede from his eyes before attempting to get back up but when he opened his eyes

he remained seated in defeat. Seifer had pointed the blade right below his chin waiting as if for an order to fully execute him.

"Seifer! Squall! What is going on here?!" Cid anxiously ran over to them grabbing Seifer's hand and removing the gun

blade from his tight grip. Squall stood up, saluting in effect, as did Seifer. Neither said a word. Cid just shook his head in disapproval,

"At ease men! Now enough with this rivalry, I won't have anyone getting injured tonight! Seifer escort this young lady to the

infirmary! Squall meet me in my office, a.s.a.p.!" Both men nodded to their orders and did as they were told.

Squall walked out of the training center and headed to Cid's office, but all his mind could focus on was the event that had

just played out; Seifer had beaten him again, and now stole his most recent sought-after prize. Seifer would pay.

* * *

_ ...Fade out_

* * *

_End Scene I_


End file.
